Author´s note: Christ, a whole month without an update! So sorry. A mild writing hiccup and KOTOR 2 conspired against me and Keena.
Sorry about the short length. I´m hoping the Big Bad Finish will make up for it. I have it pretty much ready in my head and will start working on it later today.
ether-fanfic: Thanks for the compliments. As for the question marks and several other typos . . . I have no idea how they happened. The chapter I downloaded was pretty much typo-free.
ACE: Can´t really think of anything to say except: Thank you so much. We´re almost at the end now.
The universe was a place without form, time, or meaning. There were no stimuli of any kind.
No sight, no sound, no sensation. No worries.
It was very relaxing.
But somehow . . . deep down . . . it didn´t feel right.
Something´s wrong . . .
The comforting waves of nothingness closed in, threatening to pull her back down.
She half-heartedly resisted, trying to hold onto her awareness, but it was like swimming against a heavy current.
Suddenly a voice intruded. A voice filled with cold malice; twisted with hatred and anger.
Revan, Keena . . . think about Revan.
She shrank away from the sick voice, almost retreating into the safe nothing.
Then her memory kicked in.
Revan!
Keena grabbed the anger, fanning it with all her might. It gave her focus.
Her consciousness rose through the sludge, and her dormant senses came partially to life.
Her sense of touch registered a soft surface beneath her.
Her nose brought the images of a well-stocked medical bay.
No matter how hard Keena pushed, she couldn´t reach the parts of her brain that allowed movement; Not even a twitch. So her vision remained off-line.
However, a vague buzzing sound eventually turned into the more familiar sounds of starship hum and conversation.
´´ . . . uncomfortable with this.´´
The voice was hazy, like it was being filtered through several layers of cloth.
´´I know Juhani, but we´ve got no choice. We can´t afford to deal with this right now.´´
´´And when this is over?´´
´´Then . . . then we´ll see what happens. Maybe something can be done for her yet.´´
A silence descended, and another wave of emptiness threatened to engulf.
Revan´s returning voice kept Keena aware.
´´Just stay here. I´ll need to contact Bastila and Carth.´´
Revan´s footsteps moved away into the distance.
The only nearby sounds were those of medical equipment and breathing, presumably Juhani´s.
What´s wrong with me?
Keena put all her wobbly concentration into her sense of touch, trying to find something wrong with her body, that might explain her condition.
Her stomach felt numb, like it had been anaesthetized, and had apparently been bandaged. Her system felt free of any debilitating drugs or medication. There was however the matter of the metal object she felt encircling her neck.
Pol´s neural disruptor . . . even when not around he finds ways to be a pest.
Revan returned.
´´Eskon got away! Carth´s fleet is on his trail, but without knowing where he´s headed all they can do is follow him all the way to the tomb.´´
´´How are the repairs coming along?´´
´´HK and T3 are almost done, but we´re going to be late. I just hope Bastila´s Battle Meditation will do the trick yet again.´´
´´I´m sure it will.´´ There was another silence. ´´How are you anyway?´´
´´I´m . . . shaken . . .´´
Keena´s concentration wavered, and the waves of nothingness rose once more. This time there was no escape.
Time was a vague swirl. Occasionally Keena´s liquid consciousness found a foothold in the waking world . . . but with nothing to focus on there was no understanding of the passage of time.
Immobile. Unable to focus. During some of the clearer moments, she couldn´t help but feel the similarities with her captivity on board the Storm.
Right where I promised myself never to return: Helpless.
The memories and feelings her state brought on almost made the inevitable sinking down into the nothing welcome.
Nothing seemed to change. All she was clearly aware of was travel, how long and how far she had no idea, and occasional conversations between the two Jedi.
Strangely enough, it was during one of the empty moments that she first felt it. It breached the nothingness as subtly as a cold breeze blowing through a poorly insulated house: A feeling of dread. An unidentifiable, cold fear that slowly seemed to sink its teeth into her soul.
She was torn between trying to sink into safe nothingness, or trying to stay alert to confront whatever threat was approaching.
In the end it made no difference. The semi-conscious moments were too blurry to analyze or banish the fear, and the fear invaded the empty times inescapably.
Slowly, achingly slowly, the feeling grew.
There is something out there. Something is approaching.
Time passed . . .
Something changed. After an unmeasurable time of mental and physical paralysis, something finally changed.
Keena strained hard against the blanket over her senses, and realised what it was.
The ship had come out of hyperspace. The air was heavy with an all too familar aura: That of large-scale battle and death. And overpowering the familar horror was an even greater one: A terrible, cold sickness in the Force. An aura of evil like nothing Keena had ever experienced. Suddenly she felt very small.
Is this the tomb? Eskon wasn´t kidding around . . .
´´ . . . have to stop him somehow, Tana! Yuthura says Bastila can´t focus through . . .´´. Carth Onasi´s voice broke through the fog. ´´ . . . and his fleet is too strong!´´
´´Give me some cover, Carth! I´ll try to get through the Sith formations and land!´´
Keena was aware of tubolasers barely missing the ship, of dodging fighters, and finally entering an atmosphere.
The ship landed, and just then another flood of oblivion closed in.
Keena resisted. Fought the flow with everything she had. It was useless. As always her senses slowly suffocated and she was left with nothing but the darkness and the fear . . .
Keena.
The sick voice broke through the fog. Keena shrank away from it. Even the fearful darkness was better than the twisted evil of the voice.
Keena . . . it´s time. Time to do your part. And don´t worry; it´s easy. All you have to do is think . . . about Revan.
Revan . . .
Think about how she hurt you . . . think about the betrayal. Think about the pain . . . the years spent in misery. Use the anger! Let it give you clarity! Let it give you strength! Embrace your anger . . . and come to me!
The collar came off, forced open by Keena´s will.
The world came flooding back to her senses. And with her full awareness, and anger, the overwhelming power of the nearby tomb was felt even more fully.
She was lying on a bunk on board what she assumed was the Ebon Hawk, her stomach bandaged with kolto bands. Apparently she had been moved from the medical bay, and into the sleeping quarters.
Almost on their own, Keena´s feet found the floor and she rose. Her anger and pain boiled, reverberating off the darkness of the planet.
Time to end this!
She stalked out of the dormitory and into the main hold. There, on a shelf, her eyes found her lightsabers and backpack.
Weren´t expecting me to break free, were you Revan? Granted, I had a little help . . . like last time.
Keena snatched up the lightsabers. One went to its place on her belt. The Sith one into her pocket.
The backpack was next. It had accompanied her for years now and almost felt like an old friend, nesting on her back.
´´Keena?´´
The former padawan stuck her head through the medical bay doors. Juhani was lying on the cot there, still clearly recovering from the crash.
The Cathar looked startled at Keena´s sudden revival, but with her legs still unmended it didn´t seem to Keena that she was in a state to do much about it. Not if Revan had left her behind.
´´Yeah, what!´´ she snapped. She felt like she was being pulled out of the ship. Like her fate was right outside and wouldn´t wait for her convenience.
´´Revan has gone off to stop Eskon.´´ Juhani said weakly. ´´If he . . . harnesses the tomb, his power alone can end the battle overhead. And the Republic will be next. What . . . what is your part in this going to be?´´
´´My part?´´ Keena snorted. ´´My part will be what the universe has laid out before me. Nothing else. It´s high time I finished this wretched journey . . . one way or another! Now if you don´t mind, I have a date with an ugly destiny.´´
With that she turned on her heel and stalked towards the loading ramp.
´´Keena!´´ The Jedi called after her. ´´You anger will doom the Republic . . . and yourself!´´
´´I know!´´
Keena´s feet met the surface of the nameless planet, at the same moment as her power forcibly shut the ramp, jamming it in place. They had come down in a rocky, mountainous area. There was nothing in sight except blackened rock, and a brown sky. The nauseating feelings creeping through her body as the planets twisted aura caressed her only slowed her down for a moment.
The rage kept building as she trudged through the rocky landscape. Anger at Revan. Anger at Malak. Anger at the Jedi. Anger at the Sith. Anger at Eskon. Anger at the universe. Anger . . .
The last four years came boiling to the surface; all their collected misery, and the ever present tension deep inside her felt like it was reaching a final point.
Keena didn´t need to see Eskon´s shuttle, or the destroyed battle droids surrounding it, to know where to head. The darkness called out to her quite clearly.
She found herself by the cave entrance Eskon had landed by. Revan had sliced her way through the droids he had left as guards, although her rust-red battle droid seemed to have taken several blaster shots in the battle. It lay smoking, surrounded by shredded metal.
Keena stepped over it and stood by the cave entrance. It was just about wide enough for three people to walk in simultaneously, and about two feet taller than Keena.
The tomb of Hojir Karr . . . what Revan secretely wanted us to find, those four years ago.
A howling, bone-chilling gust came out of the pitch-blackness. Or at least something moved her clothing and hair, and sent an icicle down her spine.
Something about the situation reminded Keena of her conversation with Revan on board the Storm after returning from her mission. When Revan had come so close to turning her with mere words. When she had stood on a brink over the abyss.
´´But I made the right choice, didn´t I?´´ she growled bitterly to the universe. ´´I made a choice that day . . . and in the end it was for nothing.´´
Her hand found the Sith lightsaber, squeesed it painfully hard, and activated it.
´´Now I either die . . . ´´, she spat, ´´. . . or kill Revan, and drown in the darkness once and for all.´´
Keena forced down the knot in her stomach and trudged into the cave, the crimson beam lighting her way.
